LEESBURG, Fla. \u2014 Golf, pickleball and boating are all popular activities among local seniors, but according to a Pew Research study, another sport is gaining popularity: shooting.<\/p>\n
The 2023 study says nearly a third of adults in the U.S. say they own a gun. Of those, 37% are between the ages of 50 to 64 years old, and 35% are 65 or older.<\/p>\n
The trend can be seen in Central Florida as a growing number of seniors are bearing arms for comfort and connection, like Mike and Cigdem \u201cChi\u201d Consales, who live in The Villages.<\/p>\n
These days the couple is carving out a little extra time for themselves for date nights and their new favorite pastime, firing off a few at the gun range.<\/p>\n
Mike Consales proudly showed off his gun to Spectrum News, a Smith & Wesson Model 629.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the gun that Clint Eastwood used in all the Dirty Harry movies,\u201d Mike said.<\/p>\n
Chi Consales says she has been shooting since she was 11 years old.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started on a shotgun with my father… It was fun,\u201d Chi said.<\/p>\n
Firearms instructor George Rodriguez says the majority of his students are retirees. Rodriguez teaches various classes at the Gun Shop and Gun Range in Leesburg.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey watch the news, they hear stories that are going on and they say, well, I need a firearm to protect myself,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cAnd they buy that firearm and they get it home. And they look at it and they\u2019re like, well, I don\u2019t know how to load it. Which way to the bullets go in?\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Pew Research study shows 72% got a gun for protection, it has developed into a sense of community with a little friendly competition.<\/p>\n
Jerry, who didn\u2019t want to give his last name, is a trainer and member of The Villages\u2019 Straight Shooters, a social organization that boasts about a thousand members.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve found to happen with the seniors is they didn\u2019t realize that they actually enjoyed it and it was fun. So, then it becomes recreation, just like playing a game of golf,\u201d Jerry said.<\/p>\n
Mike echoed that sentiment, saying, \u201cYou know, this is just another thing that my wife and I have in common that we can go out and really enjoy. There\u2019s no competition. She\u2019s a better shooter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodriguez offers several classes a month through his company Viking 6 Tactical, including basic firearms, concealed carry, rifle and revolver training.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEESBURG, Fla. \u2014 Golf, pickleball and boating are all popular activities among local seniors, but according to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[122473,28,30,29,115,139,3690,835],"class_list":["post-371078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-adrianne-flores","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-the-villages","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}